Victoria’s Secret was one of the first underwear manufacturing companies to put a major emphasis on advertising. It promotes its clothing and underwear line on TV, in magazines and on the Internet. And its mouthpieces are models, also known as the Victoria’s Secret “angels.” The angels are skinny, tall and dressed to kill — even though half of their pictures are taken in bras and panties.
But after the deaths of four models last month, models such as these may not be gracing TV airways or runways if the U.S. fashion industry institutes a mandatory body mass index of 18.5, such as Madrid and Milan have already done. According to BMI standards, anyone with a BMI of less than 18.5 qualifies as underweight.
However, this is not only a hot-button issue for the public, but for the models that it affects as well. If mandatory regulations were set in place, many models would be required to gain weight in order to keep their jobs.
Erica James, an alumna in sociology and model for Atlanta’s CEO Models Inc., said these regulations are discriminatory against models like her because some models have a naturally lean frame.
‘It makes me mad because these are my genes,” she said. ‘I’m not anorexic — I’m not bulimic — I eat everything in my house.”
James, who stands at 6 feet tall and weighs 120 pounds, has a BMI of 16.3 and would be required to gain weight by proposed standards. However, she said she would not gain weight if told to do so.
‘I do not agree with banning girls with a certain BMI. [Their] whole job is to show off the clothes,” she said. ‘Some people are just born with what it takes to be a model, and I don’t think that anyone should diet or binge to be that way.”
James is aware that there are girls with eating disorders in the fashion industry and has worked with girls who looked unhealthy.
She said the modeling agency she works for is not strict about weight, but exactly how strict it is depends on the location. In New York, a model would be required to be a certain height and weight she said, but in Atlanta where the market is more urban and hip-hop it is not critical to look like a typical model to get work.
Throughout her childhood, James was teased for her thin frame. She said that if you listen to Tyra Banks’ and Naomi Campbell’s stories, they were always naturally skinny as well.
‘There may be women that are naturally that thin, but there aren’t a lot of them,” said Sarah Ash, a professor in nutrition.
She said BMI is helpful because it is an objective measure that the modeling industry can apply, but weigh-ins are probably a mistake for those models who may attempt to binge beforehand. She said that instead of going by BMI, the industry should go dress size.
‘These models are clearly emaciated and don’t have any fat,” she said. ‘You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that they’re severely underweight.”
Ash said she wonders why these bodies types are the figureheads for the clothing industries.
‘I find it ironic that these women don’t have a chest, and if you’re designing it for women shouldn’t it look like it would belong on most women?” she said. ‘If [the clothes] look the same on the person as on the hanger, that’s not very helpful.”
She said women tend to put way too much pressure on themselves and often have a different perception of the ideal female body type than men do. From what she has observed, men prefer a more curvaceous body frame, as opposed to women who view a smaller female body frame as ideal.
‘The modeling industry stresses girls to be way too skinny,” Daniel Shields, a sophomore in chemistry said. ‘When I see some models, I just think that someone needs to feed them. I don’t think it’s attractive at all for them to be way too skinny.
Instituting a mandatory BMI, according to Ash, is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be one of many steps to come.
‘My hope is that it will be a gradual process, but they won’t be able to eradicate eating disorders,” Ash said. ‘I think it’ll have a benefit on society in general.”
